Waterboarding back as Topic A in Capitol Hill committees

AL QAEDA WANING?: U.S. officials say group's violence against Muslims works against it

Pamela Hess, Associated Press

Published
4:00 am PST, Friday, February 8, 2008

Al Qaeda's embrace of violence may be undermining the terrorist group's support in the Muslim world, the nation's top intelligence official said Thursday.

"The question becomes, are we reaching a tipping point to witness the decline of this radical behavior?" Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell said at a House Intelligence Committee hearing. "We don't know, but we are watching it very closely."

Most victims of al Qaeda attacks are Muslims, McConnell said. In Iraq, the violence perpetrated against Iraqis by insurgents associated with al Qaeda pushed tribes to turn against the group and has led to improved security, he said, adding that the same pattern might take hold elsewhere.

"In the last year to 18 months, al Qaeda has had difficulty in fundraising and sustaining themselves," McConnell said.

CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden said there seems to be increasing willingness in the Islamic world to question al Qaeda's vision. As evidence, he pointed to the fact that al Qaeda's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, now has a Web site to which readers can submit questions.

"I think it is a remarkable step, and I don't think reflective of overconfidence on the part of al Qaeda leadership," Hayden said.

More than 1,300 Pakistanis - civilians and troops - were killed in terrorist attacks and armed clashes in 2007, more than in the six previous years combined.

"Pakistanis have generally viewed (al Qaeda) to be more a threat externally, to us, for example, than it is to them. They no longer see that. What we have is a nexus of al Qaeda and Pashtun separatists and extremists," Hayden said. "This is a threat to the identity and stability of the Pakistani state. That's new."

The United States is helping to train Pakistani special forces, the Pentagon confirmed Wednesday.

McConnell said he wants the United States to play a more direct counterterrorism role in the lawless tribal region of Pakistan that borders Afghanistan. Pakistan has not agreed. "I would like to see us have much more aggressive activity, but what that connotes is a potential to invade a sovereign country. So that becomes a very problematic issue," he said.

Also at the hearing - an overview of global threats to the United States - McConnell said North Korea is continuing to enrich uranium and proliferate nuclear technologies, despite its stated commitment to full denuclearization. Pyongyang missed a Dec. 31 deadline for a full declaration of its nuclear program, he said.

He said the intelligence agencies have "medium confidence" North Korea is still enriching uranium, down from "high confidence" last year.

Also, McConnell said, Russia and China are investing heavily in space and may be developing a capability to strike U.S. satellites, including those that make up the global positioning system, or GPS.